


Sickness and Health

by IRegretNothingAndEverything



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Blood, FUCK, I mean it's anti so like there's gonna be blood, It's a long thing I was writing on tumblr, M/M, Multi, SO, Sickness, Uhm, but tumblr is eating shit, i dunno what to tag this, i haven't used tags in ages, there's blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 16:16:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 4,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16836127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IRegretNothingAndEverything/pseuds/IRegretNothingAndEverything





	1. Chapter 1

“Iplier, we’ve got another one.” Wilford’s voice was strained as he struggled to drag in Silver Shepard, whose white costume was now stained red with blood. Edward looked up from one of the Jims, who was currently having a lot of trouble breathing. 

“Set him on a table.” Edward gestured to one of the free tables. “I’ve got to intubate Jim first.” 

Schneeplestien slid into the room, changing gloves as he went, rushing over to Marvin, who was passed out, blood trickling from his mouth. “Jackie and Jameson are stable, Jameson is still out. King is watching over them, but he didn’t seem too stable himself when I left the room.” 

“The Host?”

“Awake. Stableish, but he’s due to crash soon, I can tell, he has tremors, and he’s coughing a lot.” 

“Check on Shepard, Jim, help me pin your brother.” Jim whimpered softly, but nodded, helping Edward hold him down. Henrik slid over to Shepard, checking him over quickly. 

“Just passed out, no signs of heart stress. He seems to be alright for now. Wilford, how good are you at doing an IV?” 

This rushing around, it made Dark dizzy, but that might have been the fact that whatever was catching on the others was catching up to him as well. None of the egos had a name for it, but it came once a year, carving through them. Most guessed it was a way to keep them from getting too strong and overthrowing their creator. 

They wouldn’t die, but if the doctors didn’t work like this they’d be out for months. Dark coughed harshly, shaking slightly, and Edward’s eyes flew to him, eyes searching his face. Dark waved a hand slightly. It was only affecting Celine right at the moment, Damien was fine, and if Damien could keep being okay, than Celine would get better fast. 

Though, it wasn’t like Edward could do much anyways, collapsing as he moved over to him, hacking up something gray. Henrik ran over to him, coat long since abandoned, heaving him up into his arms, struggling with his husband over to one of the other few free tables, Dark helping him. Edward tried to fight in, just as Henrik was fighting it now, but he had given in long before the other doctor. 

Henrik’s hands shook as he did everything he could to keep Edward stable, hands shaking, tears slipping out of his eyes without another thought, heaving up little sobs. 

Dark felt bad, being there in such an intimate time, and thus slipped off, going to King, who was hacking up a lung himself, hands shaking slightly, but he was still mobile, iv dripping fluids into him hooked onto his pants as he slipped around, making sure each ego was stable. Host was shaking, bleeding more than he normally would, everything around him soaked with the amount of blood he was loosing. 

Dark went over to the Host, who was narrating something that had happened three weeks ago, and started doing what he could to clean him up, but Damien was hacking too, and he felt himself slipping into as well, collapsing onto the floor, heaving. 

King rushed over, then cursed softly, calling out for Wilford, who scampered in, tugging Dark up and into a chair, checking over him quickly. King rushed out to bring Henrik in, though Henrik wasn’t too willing to leave Edward for long. Still, others needed his attention, and, as Henrik scampered into the room, Anti shuffled in, his neck wound gushing blood like a fresh wound with each cough that racked through his body. 

“Fuck! King, get Anti, Wilford, IV supplies, anything you can get your hands on.”

Blue Google came in, carrying Green in his arms, the other robot spazzing and overheating his arms. Bing followed quickly, Chase coughing blood across their shirts, with Red and Yellow following, words zooming past their eyes, calling out things to their brothers in an attempt to get anything through to them to help symptoms. 

Edward was back up, IV hooked to his belt, going around to anything he could to keep anyone stable, hands shaking slightly as he worked, and his arrival was just in time, as Henrik too succumbed to the illness, hacking and coughing. Dark was more stable at the time it happened, tugging him up onto the chair he had occupied moments before, letting Red slide over to check him over. 

This chaos would go on for days on end, and Dark knew, in his mind, no one was going to sleep easy. Sleep just wouldn’t come.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite his best efforts, the sickness claimed Edward, taking him down further than any of the other egos. Henrik couldn’t believe it was him, there was always one, but Edward was always so strong, but he just looked… so sickly, pale, barely alive. 

Henrik sniffled softly. With Edward down, he was handling any mishaps alone. The others had collapsed in exhaustion hours ago, and Henrik couldn’t blame them. He had been awake nearing 120 hours, and the only other ones that had managed to last nearly as long as he had was the robots. Edwards had collapsed for the third time on day four, and just didn’t get back up. 

Slowly, Henrik struggled to his feet. His own IV was running low, and he could feel the pain seeping back into his body. He shuffled across the room, checking on each and every ego he had curled into ball next to their loves or close friends. Anti and Dark had even curled around The Host, a strange turn of events that Henrik did not see coming. 

He changed out IVs, checking pulses and temps, hands shaking with exhaustion, eye blurring with hallucinations, and, yet, he didn’t sleep. He couldn’t. It felt like he was scraping at the wall, trying desperately to drag sleep from it, but it just wouldn’t happen. 

Ensuring that he could stay next to Edward for another couple hours, he settled back into his chair, brushing hair from his husband’s eyes. He began murmuring in German to him, little things of love and worry. 

As he sat there, it would have been so easy to fall asleep, and yet… sleep sat just out of reach, worry and fear holding him back against all odds.   
All he wanted was Edward back…


	3. Chapter 3

Henrik sniffled softly, having lost quite a bit of fluid crying softly. Anti had woken up, but was too weak to move over to him to comfort him, instead shifting to lay on his other side, saying soft comforts in German for the doctor. Anti, however, had gone under once more soon after he started, and Henrik was now this. 

Edward still hadn’t woken. Every single on of the others had gotten up at some point, some even moved around, and yet, Henrik watched as Edward seemed to slip further and further away from his grasp. It wasn’t true, he was in the same condition, but he just… wouldn’t wake up. 

Blue wandered in, hands shaking, glitching out more than he normally would, his own special IV drip hooked onto his shirt. Henrik looked over, then stood, shuffling over to him, eyes blurred with exhaustion and tears. 

“You must sleep, Doctor. You know this isn’t healthy for you.” Henrik sniffled again. 

“I know… I just… I can’t… Edward needs to wake up… I can’t seem to find it in me to sleep until I know he’s alright enough to wake up.” 

“Doctor… even you know that could take a couple more days.” 

Henrik’s hands shook further, and Blue grabbed them, holding them a moment. Henrik nodded slowly. “Yes, yes… I suppose you’re right…” Still, Henrik looked over him, eyes drooping, hands shaking, a soft sniffle every now and again. 

Blue let him. He knew Henrik needed to be doing something with his hands, needed to be moving until the very last second, but, the moment the examination was done, Blue lifted a hand, placing it against Henrik’s neck and zapping him lightly. 

Henrik collapsed, Blue catching him easily, carrying him over to Edward and placing Henrik next to him. 

The induced sleep wouldn’t last long, but Henrik needed to sleep, if only for a moment.


	4. Chapter 4

Edward watched as the last dregs of his bottle was dumped down the drain, hands shaking. He was crying softly, but Henrik was there, he was always there. Edward reached for him, a sniffling, drunk mess, but… Henrik wasn’t there

That was wrong, he was always there he never left Edward like this alone. Edward spun around, tears streaming down his face, his husband would never leave him alone like this, he wasn’t that way-

Blood spurted from his lungs, cascading down his front, leaving specks of read across the previously pristine white floor. Edward couldn’t breathe past the blood coming from his lungs and stomach, leaving him gasping and whimpering. 

“Pathetic.” German floated down from above him, and Edward looked up, blood staining his face and shirt, to see Henrik. But it wasn’t him, it couldn’t be him, Henrik didn’t have that red and blue aura around him, Henrik didn’t have that slit open neck, Henrik never bled from the eyes, this wasn’t Henrik-

Edward shouted as the not-Henrik kicked him in the ribs, forcing more of the sitting blood out of his lungs, leaving him shaking and scared. 

Not-Henrik crouched next to him, tugging him up by his hair. “You really think I would ever stay with someone as pathetic and weak as you?” 

Edward sobbed, hacking up more and more, body getting weaker and weaker, lights fading from his vision until-

“Eddy!” Henrik’s voice brought him back, Edwards shooting up in the hospital bed, hacking up blood, but not nearly as much as he had before. Henrik was sitting on the bed next to him, tears staining his face. 

“H-Henrik…” 

“Edward, you’re okay!” Henrik flung himself at Edward, sobbing softly, and Edward looked around. The hospital they had built together, sleeping and awake egos scattered around the giant room. Dark and Anti were off in a corner, talking to each other over The Host, who was passed out. Both were pointedly not looking over, both having knowing looks in their eyes, a slight glow, and IVs connected to their arms. 

Slowly, Edward came back, the pieces of his nightmare slipping away in favor of reality, where he could hold his baby, hold Henrik until he cried himself out.   
Henrik wasn’t one to cry much, straightening himself out quickly, but squeaking slightly as Edward began to check him over frantically, as if looking for something other than the sickness plaguing them. 

“E-Edward?” Edward didn’t answer him, simply tugging him back down into the bed, yawning slightly. 

“Sleep, my love.” Edward mumbled, pressing a kiss against the small part of Henrik’s back between his shoulder blades, and Henrik relaxed against him, falling asleep easily. 

If only they knew just how much worse it could get for them.


	5. Chapter 5

Soon after Henrik fell asleep, his heart rate dropped. Sudden and random, and way too low if he was truly human. Blue was alerted to it, as he had made sure that each person had a heart monitor connected to them. 

Henrik slipped into the same type of coma state that Edward had been, and Edward felt as if he wouldn’t be coming out any time soon. Edward had spent a good three days in it, and his heart rate hadn’t gotten nearly as low as Henrik’s was now. 

Edward took over Henrik’s job of wandering between beds, checking on everyone, making sure that they were getting better. Silver and Host were the only two still hacking up blood, and Edward joined that small group when he woke up. Though, it was no surprise to anyone that it was those three. Ed Edgar had just barely stopped the day before, and all four of them were technically discontinued egos. Of course they would be weaker. 

Edward’s hands shook as he checked over Henrik; hands shook as he was forced to intubate him; his hands shook as he was forced to hook his husband into too many machines for him to count, wires and tube extending from the lifeless body from so many places that Edward nearly cried every time he saw Henrik. 

No one had the heart to tell him he actually was crying. 

Dark was calm, only Celine was still coughing in his mind, Damien right there to help hold her up, keep her alright. Dark shuddered to think what would happen if he lost only one part of him. 

He had forgotten, of course that his shudder came at the worst time, as Anti curled on his back like a mini jet pack, and The Host curled against his front, mumbling soft narration to himself. 

“You cold?” It was Anti, his voice less glitchy than normal, softer, mostly due to the fact that his neck wound was wrapped up for once. Dark shook his head slowly, but still dragged the blanket up; he could feel Host shivering.

“No… just thinking…” Anti reached over him, pressing the back of his hand to Host’s cheek, then softly called Edward over to check him. 

“About?” 

“Who I once was… What would happen if I only lost one…” 

Anti nodded slowly. He didn’t fully understand the circumstances of which Dark had been created, but he understood that he wasn’t a demon like Anti. 

“They get sick indivdually?”

“Yes… She gets sick first, and for longer than he does…” Dark never told Anti or Host their names, and never planned to. Anti hummed softly. 

“Well… try to to half-die, alright? I have no clue what me and him would do without you.” 

Dark nodded slowly, feeling Anti’s head lower, the cold of his nose pressing lightly against the back of his neck, and relaxed. 

One day, he’d tell them, but today was not then. 

At that moment, Host’s heart rate dropped dramatically.


	6. Chapter 6

Anti was the first to notice Host’s heartbeat drop, having had his hand resting near a pulse point, the same pulse point his other hand rested on Dark. He flew into a panic, springing from behind Dark, turning shadow for a moment to land on the other die of the bed, eyes wide and fearful. 

“Edward!” Edward, who had been just about to settled back into his chair next to Henrik’s side, looked over, going over quickly at Anti’s panic. A pulse check and Edward swore. Dark stood, rounding the bed to gather the panicking demon into his arms, shushing him gently, staring at Host’s near-lifeless body as well, shaking slightly. 

Soon, the same type of setup that Henrik was in was hooked to the Host, and Anti nearly lost it. He was so emotional, and Dark was a polar opposite, a rock in a raging storm that 

Anti clung to, crying softly. The Host lay, his bandages slipping from around his eyes, and Anti was always there to fix them, making sure he stayed as close to protected as possible, even if Anti was forced to change the ever-blood-covered bandages nearly every hour. 

Dark would mumble to Host’s form every hour on the hour, the time, soft and caring, a habit he had picked up months ago. 

Edward watched them from a distance, knowing there was some sort of thing he did when he thought no one was looking, to keep in grounded in the fact that Henrik would pull through. 

He hoped.


	7. Chapter 7

The two still weren’t out, and Anti hadn’t moved from the Host’s side in nearing eight hours, always the first to change his bandages, the first to notice something wrong. One hand still rested gently on the Host’s neck, fingers pressed gently against his pulse point. Just barely could Anti feel his heart still beating, working against the sickness trying to drag him down. 

Exactly sixteen hours after Host had crashed, Dark realized that Celine was still coughing, and, in fact, it had respread to Damien, and Dark himself was hacking before he realized it, hiding his mouth in the crook of his, body shaking as he coughed. 

Dark felt hands rest on his back, two fingers pressing gently to his pulse point, and raised his head to Anti as his coughing died down, still shaking.

“Are you alright?” Anti was soft, most people were still asleep, and the glitch in his voice would bring most people back to wakefulness, where Dark’s coughing had not, as nearly everyone would cough often. 

Blue stepped into the room, his glow died down enough so that it looked more like a little night light, striding over to the two. Anti looked to Dark, who nodded, and Anti ghosted back to the Host, resuming his position as watchman next to him. 

“Your pulse jumped for a moment, unrelated to the coughing.” Dark nodded slowly, shoulders shaking slightly as he fought to repress more coughing. “Do you think you require a higher dosage?” 

“Maybe… Ask Edward when he wakes up, I can handle myself until then.” Blue nodded slowly, standing and striding out of the room. Dark looked over at Edward, passed out in a chair next to Henrik’s bed, and then back to Anti, black smoke coiling off him in cause he needed to return to Dark’s side at any moment. 

Dark wanted to comfort him, to tell him something, anything, but the moment he opened his mouth, he felt weak. He coughed, blood spraying across the floor and he collpased, seeing Anti ghosting over suddenly, collacsing back into his form, hand against Dark’s neck. 

“Dark? C’mon Dark, open your eyes.” When had they closed, Dark wondered to himself, but still they didn’t open. A twisted feeling rose in his gut, like something trying to claw it’s way out, and he gagged on blood, before finally succumbing to the darkness surrounding him.


	8. Chapter 8

Two beds were pushed close together, close enough that Anti could feel both Host’s and Dark’s neck, sitting between them, arms stretched to each. His eyes were flashing around, and his body was smoking, as if he were about to ghost somewhere, but he wasn’t moving. 

Edward watched silently, knowing that this was his form of crying when he had no one to comfort him properly. His body was phase out more, and his eyes wouldn’t stay still, in an attempt to hold back tears, hoping to all in the world that one of them would pull out of this before he broke. Anti was horrible when he broke. 

He glanced over at Henrik, eyes shining with unshed tears, but also attempting to hold them back, knowing that crying would dehydrate him further. Henrik still hadn’t moved from his spot, no twitching, no bouncing foot, none of the doctor’s mannerisms, nothing to show he was still alive. 

Blue slipped into the room, followed by Red, one taking each side of the room and travelling down the line to everyone still there. King had gotten better, though not fully, and was cooking for anyone who could keep food down at the moment, bringing water for anyone on a liquid only diet. Jackie was helping him when he wasn’t by the still-sick Marvin’s bed side. 

Both Jims had squished in a bed together, and both seemed to be getting better at the same rate, both of a semi-liquid diet at this point in time. Silver was curled up alone at the moment, his girlfriend having left to help King, though he was speaking to Ed and Green, who were sitting next to him, both having IVs on the same IV hanger. 

As Edward looked over this, he realized that there had to be a reason why it was Henrik, Host, and Dark who had fallen to this. There had to be a connecting point. 

At that moment, however, Anti began to cough, something normal, but eventually he was hunched over on himself, unable to stop, shoulders shaking, tears in his eyes from the pain of it, wheezing in a vain attempt to get air. 

Nothing could stop him, and all they could do was watch as Anti too, fell into the same type of coma that his boyfriends and Henrik had fallen into.


	9. Chapter 9

Henrik woke first, shakily, exactly three days after his heart rate had dropped so drastically. It was painfully, waking up, but Edward was there next to him, holding his hand, smiling at him as Henrik’s eyes slid open, searching for anything, and getting Edward. 

He smiled as he woke, reaching his other hand towards Edward, and, slowly, Henrik was finally able to be disconnected from all the machines he was hooked to, one by one. He was skinny, too skinny for Edward’s liking, but glowed, eyes shining like he had been healthy for ages. There was no sign of the sickness surrounding him, and, two hours after he woke up, he was up and moving again, filting around the room and caring for each person individually. 

Even the ones who sacred Henrik, from Anti to Wilford, were treated with the same type of care, but shakier. Edward relaxed, knowing that he was safe from the hell hole he had been thrust into without Henrik there to keep him going. He wondered if that’s how Henrik felt when he was out. 

The Host woke next, unsure and panicky, unable to feel anyone he had been around when he dropped, but Henrik was by his side in moments, reassuring him. He too had no sign of the infection anywhere in his body, returning to full health in a matter of hours. Soon, he was sat between Dark and Anti, leaned back in his chair. 

Meanwhile, Edward was sure he had isolated the gene in the infection that caused it, one mutated from Anti’s DNA that was inside all three of them, Henrik from possession, and the other two… Edward didn’t want to think about that. 

Anti himself had it, but it didn’t seem to mutate until now, when there were more endorphins running through his body. From dating Dark and Host, he had made himself happier, and thus it more danger of being infected like he was. Why the others fell first, Edward could only speculate, with the other two still under. He speculated that, since Host and Henrik both woke up at the exact day three mark, that the other two would as well. 

What was curious to Edward, was the complete lack of the virus anywhere in Host or Henrik. Normally, it would sit dormant until this time of year, but it was just gone. Eradicated.   
Would they be infected again later, when it came around again, or had Anti been the cure sitting under their noses the entire time.   
Edward could only wonder… 

That’s a lie, he was already using blood samples from multiple other egos, using Anti’s to mix, see if that was truly what was happening, and, if so… 

What did that mean for them?


	10. Chapter 10

Dark woke up later, trying to fight against the machines connected to him, but with Host suddenly holding onto him, he could do little more than squirm, growling at the machines around him. It wasn’t a fun experience for him, for anyone, waking up after Anti’s DNA had neutralized the infection. 

Edward was sure of it now, that Anti was the cure, but unsure of how to go about with this new information. Anti may not have realized it, seeing as there was a lot of things about himself that still surprised the demon, but Edward couldn’t be sure until Anti woke up, in seventeen hours, according to his calculations. It was a strange predicament to be in, explaining to the others what had happened. 

Dark, too, wondered what the complete lack of infection meant about the future, if they could get strong enough without it, or if it would just come back each year, again and again.   
Only time would tell that answer, and Edward wasn’t science-y enough to build a time machine. 

Still, watching Dark and Host sit besides Anti’s bed, talking softly to one another… It struck something inside him, and he feared something would go wrong, but they had all woken up exactly three days after falling. 

Anti would be the same, he was sure of it


	11. Chapter 11

Anti didn’t wake up. The three day mark passed and he continued to lay silently there, his heart rate continuing to drop slowly until it was just barely beating. The Host and Dark never moved from next to him, holding each other close, waiting for him to wake. 

Edward didn’t understand. He should have woken up! Everything pointed to him waking up then and there. So why didn’t he? 

The answer came in a blood test. 

The Sickness was overpowering his body, the amount there nearly triple the amount normal. The only way that could be possible is if Anti’s DNA somehow stole the Sickness from the others and transported it back to him…

He looked back to the blood tests of other ego’s blood. Their blood was clean… Anti’s had double the Sickness. Every test consist with this. His body, at this point, literally could not fight away the overpowering Sickness, just fighting to keep him alive at this point. 

Edward began to doubt he would wake at all, but wanted to try something anyways. 

Anti, being a demon, had strange blood, and they often wanted to analyze it, so he gave some to them… Maybe if he used the blood there to have more blood in his body, more of the cure, Anti could fight it off. On the other hand, he could use it to attempt synthesizing a proper cure, instead of one that just moves the Sickness to Anti. 

Neither option were good, or sure to work, but Edward didn’t want to be the one to ask Dark and Host. They were the ones who had to choose for him, they were the ones who had to choose between potentially saving Anti, or finding a cure to cure everyone… 

Edward knew he wouldn’t be able to make a choice in such a difficult situation but… he had to tell them. He had to force them to make a choice between everyone and their love.


	12. Chapter 12

“Find the cure.” Iplier hadn’t expected that from Dark and Host. They knew what was at stake, both turned to Anti’s limp body. 

“Are you sure?” 

“If you find the cure from him, his own blood will save himself, Right?” Dark looked over, tears streaming down his face. 

Iplier nodded slowly, the fear running through him. “Most likely, yes.” 

“Well, if you give back his blood there is no telling if it will actually help.” Iplier stared a moment, before nodding at Dark’s words. 

“Alright.” Iplier stepped away. He watched a moment, Host leaning into Dark’s arms and crying softly. This was a tough decision to make, he knew this, the fear for their love. 

With that, he moved back to the lab. He had a lot of work to do here.


End file.
